Before The Bang
by Epona's Chosen
Summary: "Seamus laughed and Pansy, if she'd had less control, would have swooned at the sound. It was truly a gorgeous noise - soft, but deep and oddly captivating. She would admit that, he did have a nice laugh." Pansy and Seamus are paired in Potions, and everybody knows Potions plus Seamus never turns out well...


**Hello folks :) **

**This is my contest entry for the HPFC forum "The School Subjects Competition" for the class Potions. Which, ironically, is set in a Potions lesson, something I didn't notice it until I'd finished writing it. It's also my first time writing this pairing, my OTPs are Georansy (GeorgexPansy) and Dramione, but I'm rather fond of PansyxSeamus (Seansy? I'm calling it that now.)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! :')**

**Oh, and excuse the lack of Irishness wording from Seamus, I can't talk in an Irish accent never mind write in one! **

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"Okay, that leaves Miss Parkinson with Mister Finnigan."

Seamus groaned audibly. Why did he have to get the snobby Slytherin? Sure, he'd blown up two potions successively the past two lessons, but did he really deserve such a punishment? He abated slightly, feeling glad she was easier on the eye nowadays. She wasn't what he'd call especially beautiful, but a lot better than Millicent Bulstrode, who an unfortunate Dean Thomas had ended up with. He shot his friend a sympathetic look, one which got returned.

Pansy glared nastily at Slughorn. Couldn't he have paired her with Draco? Instead of letting him suffer at the hands of that bushy-haired bookworm. She was hoping he would kick up her fuss, but he seemed perfectly happy to sit there and let Granger do all the work for him.

She miserably made her way over to his desk, dropping her books loudly on the table and Seamus' eyes flickered over her slightly. She raised an eyebrow at this, sitting down. She resisted the urge to check him out also, she would never admit that the Irish Gryffindor was hot, despite the fact he so obviously was. Especially the accent.

"Let's get to work," Seamus said, his accent sending an unnoticeable shiver down her spine and she looked at the board before going to get the ingredients.

Pansy was surprised by the fact she wasn't taking ever opportunity to slate his house, family, blood, life in general as they worked, but as they made the potion they barely talked. At least until Seamus tugged on a strand of her hair.

"It looks good," he commented. "It used to look terrible, no offence, but it's really pretty now."

Pansy stared at him. "Did you just compliment me? Wait. Hold up, you just insulted me as well," her look of shock quickly turning into a glare.

Seamus chuckled, ruffling her hair. "I assure you it was entirely aimed as a compliment."

Pansy grumbled, sorting it back out. She didn't like being touched by Gryffindors and now one dared mess up her hair! "I don't want your filthy Muggle germs on it, Finnigan," she said, but the usual spite wasn't quite in it, it was practically teasing, no intent of malice showing.

Seamus wiped his hand on his robe and pulled a face. "I have your greasy Slytherin germs on me, I'll probably get infected and die now." He said, but amusement was sparkling in his eyes.

Pansy snorted eloquently – because as a Slytherin and a lady, she couldn't be remotely pig-like – and tossed her hair over her shoulder, a small grin playing on her lips. "You should be honoured that I let you near me. Better men have tried."

Seamus laughed and Pansy, if she'd had less control, would have swooned at the sound. It was truly a gorgeous noise - soft, but deep and oddly captivating. She would admit that, he did have a nice laugh.

"There is no better man than an Irish Gryffindor," Seamus said simply.

"And you call us arrogant?" Pansy remarked, but she was finding it harder to conceal her smile.

Seamus chuckled – which was just as nice as his laugh, if you were wondering – and stirred the potion as instructed. "It wasn't arrogance, simply the truth."

At this, Pansy did laugh, but it was more derisive than humorous. "The only thing an Irish Gryffindor is even a little skilled at is boasting about his drinking skills."

Seamus looked slightly put out, his bottom lip jutting out in a slight pout that made Pansy's knees weaken slightly. Damn, he was cute when he did that. "The Irish aren't just good at drinking."

"Oh yes, I hear they braid their hair with shamrocks and chase rainbows – and blow things up." Pansy said, smirking.

"Braid our hair with shamrocks?" Seamus questioned. "Not even the leprechauns do that."

Pansy added the next ingredient to the concoction. "Hey, I'm only relaying rumours."

"And don't shoot the messenger, right?" Seamus added, and Pansy gave him a blank look. "Muggle saying, never mind."

Pansy continued to stare blankly at him. "Why in Merlin would someone shoot a messenger? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard – that and wearing orange and pink, such a disgusting combination."

"Okay... I'll mention that to the Weasleys sometime," Seamus said, giving her an odd, yet amused look.

Pansy visibly shuddered. "Ugh. Don't mention them to me, ever. One of those oafs put a spider in Blaise's bag; do you know how scared he is of them? I had to take it all the way to the forest – it wrecked my shoes. I then had to go the library to find out how to fix them. I hate the library. I got thrown out for dropping a book and then couldn't fix my shoes – and it's _their_ fault entirely!"

"So, I can't mention them because, from a series of events, you dropped a book?" Seamus asked.

"Precisely, Finnigan," Pansy said, nodding firmly.

Seamus grinned. "I never knew how amusing you were."

She looked offended. "I am not _amusing_."

He laughed, giving the potion another stir. "It was another compliment," he explained.

"Two compliments from a Gryffindor in one lesson? The world's going insane, next thing you know, some Hufflepuffs will try to bully me." Pansy said, letting the smile show on her face. She was, after all, a girl, and she did enjoy being complimented – especially by an attractive guy.

He reached out an lightly touched the corner of her mouth with his thumb, a brave thing even for a Gryffindor, since Pansy rarely let anyone she didn't trust touch her. She didn't flinch away either, just blushed deeply. "You should smile more often," he murmured and Pansy could only nod slightly as his warm breath washed over her neck. Her throat had constricted, her heart was beating just that little bit faster and she groaned inwardly. It wasn't a good sign. It was a sign that she was attracted to him, which was obviously a very bad thing. She'd be disowned, hated and thrown into a miserable life of poverty – an exaggeration, naturally, school-girl crushes were fleeting things and it wasn't likely it would exist long enough to cause that much damage.

Pansy realised she'd been sitting there, unmoving, for a while, as Seamus had moved away and was working on the potion again. She frowned, and then glanced fleetingly at the instructions. She counted how many times he stirred it; noticing he was passing the correct number right now. "_No, Seamus-_"

Too late.

That extra half-stir caused the potion to explode in a manner that had Seamus written all over it. For anyone else, it would have perhaps made a small poof and a spiral of black smoke would have left the cauldron. Not when Seamus had anything to do with it. The potion had exploded most thoroughly; the cauldron had actually been left in fragments on the desk. A thick, black fog had left the area where they'd been in almost pitch darkness. When it cleared, helped along by Slughorn, Pansy and Seamus were both covered head to toe in black powder and the latter looked furious while the former looked sheepishly at Slughorn.

Cue laughter.

The entire potion class was in fits of hysterics, congratulations for Seamus flying right, left and centre – even the Slytherins joined in. Seamus was laughing too, combined with coughing occasionally.

However, Pansy wasn't laughing. She was burning with fury. How _dare_ he humiliate her like that? Everyone was laughing at her now, even her housemates, but she silenced them with a cold look, all apart from Draco, Blaise and Theo who laughed harder than before. She wiped some of the soot from her face, but it didn't help since her hands were already covered. She glared viciously at Seamus, who was too busy laughing with Dean Thomas – who he was trying to wipe soot on – to notice. She stamped her foot, actually stamped it, and let out a quiet noise of anger. He wasn't even going to _apologise_?! He may be able to laugh at his own humiliation – he was used to it, but Pansy Parkinson had never been so mortified. Seamus looked over to her at Dean's nudge and instead of the apologetic and scared look she'd been expecting, he grinned at her. _Grinned_. His pearly white teeth flashing at her from a pitch black face.

So she slapped him.

_Hard._

He recoiled, swearing colourfully under his breath and mentally Pansy added 'good at swearing' to the list of an Irishman's talents.

"You... you..." Pansy was struggling to think of a word bad enough. "You jerk!" She all but screamed at him, her wand raised and sensibly Seamus put his hands up in surrender – yet still no apology left his lips. His _soft, sweet_ looking lips that Pansy's irrational part of her mind thought would be amazing against her own. She growled in frustration at the betrayal of her head.

Slughorn made his way between them. "Miss Parkinson, lower your wand. Both of you, to Madam Pomfrey, some of the ingredients can be harmful. If I hear that _either_ of you arrive in worse condition that you are now, you'll have detention for a month."

Seamus picked up his bag up, and then picked up hers as well before walking out of the classroom. Pansy stared after him for a moment before walking after him – at least until she reached the door, then she ran to catch up. She snatched her bag back off him.

He raised an eyebrow, well Pansy thought he did, it was hard to tell. "Aren't you going to apologise?" She said, icily. The sane part of her mind now more in control. She wasn't going to behave like a giggling idiot after he'd done that to her.

"No. It wasn't my fault," Seamus said with a shrug.

Pansy spluttered. "_Wasn't your fault?!_ It was so your fault! You're the one who miscalculated the stirrings!"

"Maybe you should have been paying attention." Seamus pointed out. "Instead of staring into space thinking about how hot I am."

"I... I was not!" Pansy protested, glad he wouldn't be able to see the blush filling her cheeks.

Seamus chuckled. "I wonder why I don't believe you."

Pansy glared at him and stormed off ahead, her head held high. Seamus took the chance to allow his eyes to drift over her figure. He grinned slightly to himself. He couldn't deny that she was sexy, especially now that she was angry. She had curves too, a real hourglass figure that he definitely appreciated. There was also the added allure of her house. Yes, he thought the females of Gryffindor were attractive, they ran on fiery passion and he'd rather have one of them above a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Yet, he did wonder how a Slytherin kissed. He'd kissed someone from all the other houses, mainly at the inter-house parties and that damned enchanted mistletoe.

Hufflepuffs, although very nice people, weren't into much other than the lovey-dovey kisses and wanted relationships straight afterwards, and they had a tendency to giggle – something he wasn't partial to.

Ravenclaws always came across as if they'd read a book on how to kiss – some of them probably had – and they wanted control, to be the best. Most of them weren't.

Gryffindors were probably best. They were just as impulsive as him and although the kissing never lasted very long, they had fire.

Slytherins were still a mystery.

Seamus wasn't too fond of mysteries.

So as he watched Pansy's swinging hips, his curiousity was sparked. He was certain she found him attractive. However, after what had just happened, he wasn't so certain of his chances. He definitely didn't want a relationship – not with _her_. She was a total cow and everyone knew it. He didn't doubt however that she was good with her mouth.

He was just behind her as they entered the hospital wing. "Mr Finnigan! Miss Parkinson! What happened to you?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Finnigan happened. Him and his rotten potions skills," Pansy snapped haughtily and Madam Pomfrey hurried off to find whatever was needed to fix them up. "If this _stains_, you are paying for it," she hissed at Seamus before going and sitting on the clean, white bed and covering it in black soot.

Seamus remained standing, considerate enough not to mess up Madam Pomfrey's clean sheets. He waited for Pomfrey to return, she did after a few minutes and cast a disapproving look at Pansy and cast a quick charm. All the powder vanished, leaving her as fresh as a daisy. She handed her a potion. "You might have inhaled some; this potion will fix any damage it could do." Pansy took it and drank it.

"May I leave?" Pansy asked and the kind woman nodded. She stood up, picking up her bag and walked out, glaring at Seamus as she did.

Seamus received the same treatment as Pansy and was told to leave.

He did so, wandering down the corridor slowly as he was in no hurry to return to class. He was surprised to find Pansy down a few of the corridors waiting for him.

"Took you long enough," she growled.

"Wasn't expecting you to be waiting for me, and frankly, I don't want to return to class." Seamus said with a shrug.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "I'm not planning on going back. Everybody will laugh at me."

He rolled his eyes. "Does it bother you that much?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

He sighed, leaning against the wall next to her. "Then I'm sorry," he said and Pansy's head shot up, surprised.

"You apologised. To a Slytherin," she said, surprised.

"Yeah, well, it won't be happening again." He said, "I didn't know that it bothered you that much, personally, I think you still looked hot – especially since you were mad at me."

She continued to stare. "That's the third compliment. It's true, the world's gone mad. But thanks, Finnigan," she tacked on the end.

Seamus laughed. "The world's always been mad. And what happened to '_Seamus_'?" He asked.

"I never called you Seamus," Pansy said, frowning.

"Yes, you did." He said, smirking. He pushed off from the wall and turned to face her. "Right before the bang." Pansy's eyes widened slightly as she realised he was speaking the truth.

"That doesn't count!"

Seamus chuckled, moving slowly closer to her. "It did. I liked it. Slightly desperate, slightly surprised, pleading for my attention," his voice got lowered as he got closer to her, his hands on either side of her head as he leaned down slightly nearer to her.

He was pleased to see her blush. No soot to hide it anymore. "I... I didn't sound like that at all," she whispered, finding her usual audacity failing.

"I think you did." His voice was husky, laced with his gorgeous accent and Pansy swooned unwillingly, her eyes closing slightly and her lips softening.

Seamus smirked, he allowed his body to gently lean against hers and one of his hands slipped to her waist. He kept her waiting a few more moments, enjoying the look of bliss on her face before connecting his lips to hers.

Immediately, her arms slipped around his neck and pressed her body against his. He pinned her to the wall, his fingers running through her silky dark hair as he kissed her deeply. She returned the kiss fiercely and her tongue forced its way into his mouth in moments. He was ever so slightly surprised at her boldness but allowed her to explore his mouth to her own desire. His tongue teased hers every so often but she seemed content with letting her tongue glide over ever inch and he let his tongue begin to explore hers. Her fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck before she almost roughly deepened the kiss, her tongue starting to war with his. With one tug of his hair, Seamus moaned and he felt Pansy smirk against his lips. Seamus mentally rolled his eyes; he could feel her celebrating the mini victory as the battle turned into a dance.

His hand began to push its way under her top, grazing the smooth, creamy skin underneath and he slowly moved it further up under he felt the lacy fabric of her bra. He didn't push any further than that and withdrew his hand back to her waist, slowly raising back up and withdrawing again. He'd had to break the kiss out of a need for air and was once again pleased to hear her gasping for air as his lips moved across her jaw and down her neck. Her hold on him tightened to near painful as he began to suck on the sensitive point of her neck. He was rewarded after a few moments with a breathless moan of his name. He was finding himself quite fond of that.

His mouth was soon tugged back to his and Seamus grinned. Slytherins were definitely his new favourite kissers.

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**How was it? It was a weird style of writing for me, I don't normally write like that. Odd. Anyway, let me know what you thought?**

**~ Rhiannon**


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